Enormity of summit role tests PM's nerve

By Audrey Young

Jenny Shipley's demeanour these past few days has betrayed a bad case of pre-match nerves.

The Prime Minister's natural apprehension about a daunting weekend with world leaders has been in contrast to Don McKinnon's stewardship of the foreign ministers' meetings.

Mr McKinnon is usually so laid back, so ho-hum, it almost verges on a sense of boredom. And when he is not laid back, he is definitely in control, as evidenced at the ministers' press conference last night when he cut off questions to stunned Taiwanese representatives.

The role he played in the East Timor special meeting makes it more likely he will become the next Commonwealth Secretary-General.

An Asean boycott of the meeting was averted when Mr McKinnon agreed to chair it, instead of Australia and Canada. Three Asean ministers attended - Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines - and other senior officials.

The meeting gives Mr McKinnon added prestige and reinforces New Zealand's comfortable role as independent honest broker.

Mrs Shipley's job is tougher beyond comparison.

At 47 she is the youngest of the 21 Apec leaders. And with less than two years in the top job, she is one of the least experienced at dealing with some of the sharpest heads on earth and the trickiest test the region has faced in recent times.

Mrs Shipley was clearly seized by the enormity of it all to the extent that press conferences with familiar local media this week appeared a nerve-racking ordeal.

Her voice trembled and she stumbled over words.

By yesterday, after four intense days, Mrs Shipley had all but regained her composure.

But the measure of her leadership of the summit domestically is likely to be outcomes over which she has little control and even less influence.

It will depend on whether the momentum building against Indonesia grows - and it is difficult to see it fading - and which way others twist and turn in the face of a variety of pressures.

The tide has turned so swiftly that the United States, which at first did not want the special foreign ministers' meeting on East Timor, is now ordaining it an important part of the leaders' discussions.

That may satisfy the demands of Labour leader Helen Clark, who has been a constant thorn in Mrs Shipley's side on East Timor.

But it won't stop her finding fault with Mrs Shipley's performance.

Helen Clark cannot afford to give Mrs Shipley any reason before the election to make the country proud of her. That could give Helen Clark a chronic case of nerves.